CO poised to expand open records access

DENVER—Public records in Colorado would become a bit more modern under a bill that would make it easier to transmit records.

A bill that won initial approval in the Colorado Senate Monday would make it easier to people to acquire public records without visiting in person to review them. The bill also bans fees for records that are shared electronically.

Republicans tried and failed to make the bill go even farther by limiting fees that government agencies can charge to produce public records. Democrats who sponsored the bill said fees are already detailed elsewhere in Colorado law

One more Senate vote is required. The open-records bill has already cleared the House, but in a slightly different form, so it must return to the House.